COTT: The British Adventure
by Elegos-Sirinial-Shamtul
Summary: When the Teens take a holiday to the UK, they find that they're not the only hero descendants in the world... and that there are enemies just as deadly as Cronus to contend with, no matter where you are...
1. Prologue

**This is my newest story, but one I've been planning for a while. Expect 4 OC's, and it ties into my other stories, particularly "Of History and Painful memories."**

Archie sat, barely able to contain his laughter as watched the girl beside him fidget incessantly, clearly being driven insane by the prolonged inactivity enforced by the cramped airplane seats.

"You know Atlanta, maybe you should go to sleep. After all, this is a 5 hour flight. Fidgeting incessantly isn't gonna make it any shorter." His voice was calm, soothing. Of course, what he was really hoping was that she would cuddle up to him. It wasn't all that likely to happen, but hey, a guy can dream right?

Unfortunately, Atlanta, made irritable by the excessive delays between flights, and distinct lack of leg room, snapped at him. "Oh, shut up and look out of the window! We're flying over millions of gallons of water. Deep, wet, blue, water."

Archie's face fell, partly at the sudden change in conversation direction, but mostly at the thought of all that water. A dull thunk echoed through his mind, the sound of a girls head hitting the deck of a boat, reverberating throughout his memory. _Sarah._ He thought, then shook his head, to try and dispel the memory that had, and always would, haunt him, but to no avail. As always, only time would rid him of the pain.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

With Cronus sent through a timelocked portal 2 months into the future, it seemed as good time as any to go on holiday. To this end, the Gods gathered the teens, and, in as polite terms as possible, to get lost.

The gods were quite clear in their terms. The teens were to go away for a month and relax. With no Cronus to handle for two months, there would never be a better time to get some serious R'n'R. The gods were more then willing to provide all the funds that the teens needed, as long as said funds weren't abused. As Hermes had put it, "When your spending reaches 6 digits, then we cut you off."

So they had all made plans. Odie was spending some time with Valerie, Neil was going to a modeling shoot/luxury resort in the Bahamas, Herry was getting some time with his Granny, enjoying himself on the farm.

Archie, Atlanta, Jay and Theresa, on the other hand, had all decided to take a trip somewhere abroad together. And since Theresa had family in England, and none of the others had ever been to Britain before, they had decided it would make for an interesting trip.

**What do you all think? I know this is short, but it's just the prologue. Please review.**


	2. Airports, buses and manor houses

**Thanks a lot to reborn-fire-bird, Goddess 95, the fates of love, 4evacrazy, African Titan, Invisible Nobody, Bj-midge-4eva and, of course, Ellen 26. You guys (and gals) rock for reviewing.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own COTT, any of the characters, events or personalities. I also don't own Birmingham international airport. (Thank god). However, I believe it is a legal necessity to state that any detrimental descriptions about any real life landmarks are employed solely for humorous content, and in no way necessarily represent the actual condition of stated landmarks.**

Birmingham International airport was, Archie decided, the most horrific place he'd ever been. _And I've seen the inside of a volcano, for Zeus's sake. _

It was busy, chaotic, manic, and a million other things. The air was thick with the stench of long haul passengers who hadn't showered or even washed in 32 hours, the screams of toddlers on their way to their first holiday on some sun soaked isle, the blare of notice boards informing passengers that they had exactly 3 minutes before they missed their flight.

There was no space to run or move, no room to breathe, no peace to catch ones bearings.

"Let's get out of here. This place is giving me a headache." Jay yelled over the cacophony, apparently reading Archie's mind.

"Agreed. This place is a hell hole." Theresa shouted back.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

_Out of the frying pan, into Hephaestus's forge_, Atlanta thought as she held onto the bar in order to remain steady on the train to London. The airport had been bustling, but at least there were gaps there. On this train, it seemed like the goal of this form of transportation was to break the most number of ribs possible by squeezing an ungodly number of people into a limited amount of space.

Add to this the two hooded teenagers seemingly competing between each other as to whose Mp3 player was capable of going the loudest and the unmistakable smell of stale urine, and Atlanta, still irritable from the lack of both sleep and movement, was just about ready to blow.

Suddenly, a man with a suitcase sized briefcase stood up and swung around to the door and barged past Atlanta. She was forced forwards, losing her balance and tilting forwards… onto Archie. Time seemed to dilate as she fell, stretching out into an eternity as their lips met.

"Oh my god Archie! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to…" Atlanta was blushing a colour that would have made most tomatoes feel ashamed.

"No, it's fine… I, I, I should have caught you. It's fine, we'll, we'll just ignore it. After all it was, it was an accident, right?" Archie and Atlanta seemed to have entered into a blushing contest that made the I-Pod war going on 3 rows over look like a friendly conversation.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Theresa and Jay were sitting down next to each other, holding hands while giggling at the show that their friends were displaying. It was a good job they were sitting down, because Theresa's knees went slightly weak as Jay whispered softly into her ear.

"_You know, you're really getting good at disguising your powers. That was very subtle. Though of course, I have to officially disapprove…, unofficially, that was hilarious."_

She whispered back_. "What are you talking about?"_

"_Nice try Theresa, but your eyes flecked purple for a few seconds while that guy was moving past Atlanta. How long exactly have you planning that?"_

"_About ten minutes. Swear you won't tell them!" _she whispered, franticly, squeezing Jays hand like a vice.

"_Don't worry. It's about time someone did something. It certainly beats my plan, anyway…" _Jay said, dazzling Theresa with that trademark enigmatic smile.

"_Which was?"_ Theresa asked, her curiosity seriously piqued by this comment.

"_Locking them in a cupboard for 3 hours when we got to your cousins place."_

Theresa gave him a look of mock horror at the suggestion, then shook her head._ "That would never work. Atlanta would just break the door down."_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Jay had always known that Theresa's family was rich: he'd been to her fathers' house more then once, and had never failed to be amazed by the sheer decadence that their lifestyle provided. But looking at her cousins…mansion, there was no way it could be called a house, he was forced to admit that it put her fathers' "meager" abode to shame.

"Whoa… that house is huge." Archie said, pointing towards the building in front of them.

Theresa grabbed them by the shoulders and said "That's the servants' quarters." She then span them round 90 degrees, then pointed again. "That, that is the manor house."

Jay, Archie and Atlanta's jaws hit the floor in unison.

"Daddy always was the underachiever of the family…" Theresa said uncomfortably.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Archie hadn't exactly come from a poor family. There'd always been enough money for him to take lessons in sailing or martial arts or any of a dozen other things he'd asked for. But he'd never seen such a level of wealth as Theresa's cousins. It was a hard thing to understand, a family having such a level of wealth when, maybe 5 miles away in the nearby town, there were people sleeping rough, or unsure of how they were going to afford this months mortgage payment. And Archie, having run away from home and lived on the street for nearly 2 years, had a rather oblique perspective on wealth. To him, all it meant was security, safety, a guarantee of a decent meal, and a few luxuries to break up the monotony.

_Strange to think, being surrounded by all this decadence would make me think about the poorest times in my life. These people, they have so much while people who work so hard can't even afford their rent. Hardly fair._

Archie sunk down into the excessively thick carpet and propped his head against the wall.

_Still, these people are your hosts, and Theresa's family to boot. It wouldn't do to go insulting them in their own home. Keep the social commentary to yourself Archie._

Suddenly, he felt a vibration in his pants pocket. He pulled out his PMR and read the text crawling over the glowing blue screen.

_{Heard you and Atlanta got busy on a bus today! Nice going lol, how's the mansion?}_

Underneath, it said the message was from Odie. Typical smartass. Archie wouldn't be surprised if it turned out the little genius had rerouted a spy satellite again to check they had arrived okay.

_{Shut it, or I'll tell Valerie all about Calypso. The mansions fine.}_

That ought to keep the little genius quiet for about half a week.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Atlanta stared down at the table. In front of her lay one of the most extensive spreads of fine cuisine that she'd EVER encountered. She was surrounded by Foie gras, caviar, the most amazingly tender joint of beef she'd ever seen.

She hated it.

It wasn't just the fact that she was a vegetarian. She'd learned long ago that it was never a good way to behave to insult your hosts dining choices, and that it was always easier to just ignore the beef and eat the vegetables.

What really disgusted here was how much there was. There were six of them at the table, yet there was enough food on the table to easily feed 10 times that number. And each of those portions must have exceeded the teams' average food bill for a week. And with Herry included in that, it was really saying something.

_And all this foods gonna get thrown away._ She thought bitterly. It appalled the hunter within her, taught never to waste anything if it could be used.

"So, Atlanta," Theresa's cousin, a slender woman of maybe 30 (though, with surgery, she guessed anything was possible) started "Theresa tells me that you and her are on the school hockey team together. I used to be a dab hand at lacrosse myself; I believe many of the skills are similar. Perhaps you two would enjoy a game tomorrow?"

Atlanta shot a look over to Archie, hoping he would have a clue what this "Lacrosse" thing was. Unfortunately, he seemed as lost as she was, and quickly buried his gaze into a roast potato.

"Ummmm…that sounds… fun." Atlanta agreed, hesitantly, while already wondering what the best dodge would be to avoid it. Illness would work, but if she over did it, she could wind up confined to bed for the whole holiday. Perhaps a small injury to her wrist…

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Theresa sat in the frilly pink room that she had stayed in so many times before. Every summer she had come here to stay with her wealth cousins, attended functions, dined with lords even. It had all seemed like a fairytale to Theresa. She had been so used to privilege that the extra privilege just seemed like a natural extension.

But that had been before the team. And more importantly, before the Brownstone. Now, all the…stuff, she could find no other appropriate word for it, was just…oppressive. She simply wasn't used to such a level of luxury. Still, they had two weeks for that to change. Of course, knowing Theresa's luck, the change would come about 3 days before they had to go back to Canada. In the meantime, however, she had a more pressing concern. How to avoid Cousin Lucinda's Lacrosse game. She hated the sport, had dome ever since she was a child.

She fell backwards onto the feather soft mattress, with a memory material futon wrapped in the finest silks. Some things, she could definitely get used to here.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Jay heard a piercing scream run through the house. Grabbing his xiphos, (though he had the sense to leave it sheathed until he knew what was going on) he ran towards the site of the screams. He bolted through the house, leaving doors open and nearly knocking over several priceless vases. As he neared the source of the screams, he began to be able to make out the sound of the persons voice, though, obviously his initial impression must have been wrong. It sounded like Atlanta.

He crashed through the door like a ton of bricks and landed in a combat roll across the floor. He stood, span around, searching for Cronus, only to find…

**Ahhhhhh, I love cliffhangers. I hope you enjoyed this edition of COTT: Britain. I love reviews, so any you send will be most appreciated.**


	3. Sprains, shopping and snot monsters

**This is overdue, I know. Blame exams. Thanks to all my reviewers, Avelynn, dazzeling diamond, 4evacrazy, the fates of love, Invisible Nobody, alicat 259, Goddess 95, Bj-midge-4eva, jay5merlin, Iris marshall, and Xhyperactive-pyroX.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Lacrosse, COTT, any of the characters (except the mysterious stranger at the end) or Trafalgar Square. **

**Enjoy.**

Jay looked down at Atlanta, who was curled on the floor, cradling her arm very awkwardly. Jay opened his mouth to speak, to ask who had done what to Atlanta, when Archie tumbled through the double doors, screaming "ATLANTAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! I'M COMING!!!!!" at the top of his panic stricken voice.

Unfortunately, Archie had been running at full speed, which though not as fast as Atlanta, was still something to write home about, and a bookcase was directly opposite the door. He slammed into it, dislodging every single book from the excessively enormous bookcase.

For an instant, the books seemed to hang in midair, suspended in time by some unseen, gravity defying force.

Then Physics got its act together, and over 500 hardback books buried Archie. Jay shook his head; no doubt the Purple headed warrior would have only bruised his pride. _Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. _He turned his attention once again to Atlanta, who was now sitting up, but still cradling her arm. Judging from the angle she was holding it, she'd most likely sprained her wrist. That was odd in itself, Atlanta wasn't exactly clumsy. But was more bizarre was the big deal she was making of it. She'd had 7 ribs broken by Cronus once and didn't say a word until Chiron had finished snapping them back into place.

Suddenly, Theresa and her Cousin burst in, both wearing there night gowns. Jay's nostrils caught the sharp scent of nail varnish mingling with expensive perfume.

"What happened?" the woman yelled, her voice fraught with concern and horror. _Concern that we'll sue._ Jay thought cynically.

"I was reaching for a book on the top shelf and tripped. I must have fell and sprained my wrist." Atlanta replied, wincing slightly.

"Oh, my poor dear. We'll get a doctor immediately!"

Atlanta's face contorted into a perfect mask of shock. "A doctor? For a sprained wrist?" She asked, her voice incredulous. "I'll be fine. I just need to keep from playing sports for a few days, that's all."

"Oh no!" Theresa cried, her voice was layered with disappointment, but jay knew her well enough to know when she was feigning emotion. "That means we'll have to miss that Lacrosse match. And we were so looking forward to it as well…" her voice trailed off.

"Well, that's fine. I'll rearrange it for another day." She turned to Jay and said "I guess you four will have to make your own entertainment tomorrow, I hope that will be okay?" He was much relieved; he had no interest in watching rich people play a sport that he had no interest in. He turned his mind to coming up with some possible ideas for what they could do for tomorrow. No doubt Theresa would drag them to London so she could haul Atlanta around the various designer stores, so he and Archie would need to find something in the vicinity that they could enjoy without worrying that their testicles were going to disintegrate from being in the vicinity of so much raw Oestrogen in its purest form.

Meanwhile, Theresa was guiding Atlanta back to her room, and her cousin had already left the room.

He turned to leave.

Suddenly, there was an eruption of leather behind him. He span around, and saw Archie, who had finally managed to dig his way out of the pile of books, and was now lying, still half submerged, on the pile, gasping like a fish.

"Would it… have killed you… guys to get me out?" He panted, his tone dripping sarcasm.

Jay just laughed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Archie hadn't been surprised when Theresa had announced, nay, demanded that they were going to London so that she and Atlanta could go shopping, despite the look of pure indignation on Atlanta's face.

He also hadn't been surprised to hear that Jay had anticipated this and had planned out a list of thing s that he and Archie could be doing that was far, far away from anything involving style, fashion or dresses. And first on the list: The Tower of London, the worlds' most famous prison in the world.

"Hey Atlanta," Archie piped up in the car journey to London. "I thought this designer places were like really violent and stuff, with all those women fighting over dresses and stuff. Is you're arm gonna be okay?"

"Huh, yeah right." Her voice dripped scorn like a tap. "You think I'd scream like that for a sprain? Or sprain it in the first place?"

"So what was with that little performance last night then?" He asked, confused, which wasn't helped by the fact that Jay was smirking, and making no effort to hide it.

"They faked it Archie. Theresa and Atlanta. They came up with the plan to get out of the lacrosse match. Honestly, could you not tell?" Jay was rather pleased with himself, and to be fair, had every reason to. He'd achieved what generations of men had deemed impossible, drawn a reasonable logical understandable conclusion from a female activity and, most importantly, BEEN RIGHT.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

6 hours later Atlanta sat in Trafalgar Square, surrounded by bags full of clothes that were impractical, uncomfortable, extreme, or all 3 at once. And those were the best of the things that Theresa had made her try on. Her feet were sore, her stomach hurt from the WAY too tight dress Theresa had literally forced her into, insisting it was exactly her size, and her face had been plucked, moisturized, enriched, and a million other useless beauty treatments.

And to think, she had come to England to relax!

To her right, sat Archie and Jay, looking altogether more pleased with themselves, sporting "I survived the Tower of London T-shirts" complete with fake blood splatter and a gruesome picture of a torture device that looked startlingly similar to a contraption she'd seen hanging in Aphrodite's room. She wasn't sure whether or not to ask the love goddess what she was doing with that… she wasn't sure she could handle the answer being a name.

Thankfully, the influx of images was prevented by the thump from across the square. It sounded rather horrifically like a cow being slapped against a wall.

In reality, it was a giant three eyed lump of…stuff smashing a human against the pavement.

"Cronus!" Jay yelled, drawing his xiphos and running forth to meet it. _As if it wasn't going to be hard enough to get him to relax on this trip as it was. _Atalanta thought while she removed the 8 million bracelets Theresa had insisted were "Totally her color" despite the fact that they were all different colors. Then, she strapped on her laser crossbow and took careful aim.

Meanwhile, Archie and Jay were busy slicing pieces of the… thing off. They were being quite successful about it, having managed to slice and dice about half the creature. Unfortunately, besides making it smaller, it didn't seem to be having much effect. Neither did Theresa's normally devastating downward nun chuck strike, which had the unexpected effect of bouncing back of the creature's pink, gelatinous body and smacking Theresa right between the eyes.

Atlanta pointed her crossbow, aiming carefully along the knuckle of her index finger. She carefully flexed her finger three times in quick succession, sending 3 white hot bolts of pure energy heading straight for the creatures 3 eyes.

The energy bolts hit their target, superheating the tissues in the triclops's structure, imparting vast amounts of energy to the molecules of its bloated cell membranes.

It exploded, rather reminiscent of an egg in a microwave. Unfortunately for Jay, he was standing right next it, and was caught in a shower of what basically amounted to sticky, viscous pink snot.

Suddenly, they heard a sardonic, slow clapping from behind them. "Very impressive. I thought I was going to have to step in, but you guys handled yourselves quite well. Overall, maybe an 8/10"

The source of the clapping was a small teenaged girl, dressed in a black sleeveless top, a pair of ripped black jeans cut off about half way between the heel and the knees. She wore no shoes, and even from this distance, Atlanta could see she was wearing quite heavy black eye shadow.

But what really got Atlanta's attention, was the fact that she was sitting on top of Nelsons Column.

Or at least, she was. Within seconds, she had back flipped gracefully off, and landed softly on the ground, which seemed to flex slightly in order to break her fall.

"Whoa, how did you do that?" Atlanta asked, breathlessly.

"You're good girlie, I'll give you that" the mysterious girl said. "But me," She shook her arm slightly, and a playing card appeared in it. "I'm magic!"

**Ooooooooooh, who is this mysterious black clad stranger? And what does she want with the heroes? **

**Now, I'm still gonna write the next chapter regardless of how many reviews I get, but be aware, the more reviews I get, the faster I type. A Quid pro Quo situation, if you will. So… review. Please.**


	4. Magic, Myths and Monty Python

**Apologies for the awful delay on this chapter. I shan't waste your time with excuses, so let's get straight on to the story, straight after these messages.**

**Thank you to pocketwatchgirl, .Invisible Nobody., Persian huntress, Perfect Phantom, Aussie Heroine, 4evacrazy, jay5merlin, rubies'n'diamonds and the fates of love. You people are the greatest. And extra thanks to ellen 26 for getting me off my butt to write this.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own COTT, any affiliated characters, Robin Hood, Merlin or Owain the Green Knight. I also do not own the infamous "it's only a flesh wound" scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Finally, if any welsh people are reading this, and are offended by my description of the welsh language…tough. It's an odd language, live with it.**

"You're good girlie, I'll give you that" the mysterious girl said. "But me," She shook her arm slightly, and a playing card appeared in it. "I'm magic!"

Wordlessly, the team fell into formation, like the greatest commando team ever known, all except Jay, of course, who was still busy clawing pink snot off his eyes.

"You've got exactly twenty seconds to tell us who you are and what you want." Archie yelled, raising his whip, and aiming it at the girl. _Account for drag, she's slightly elevated so increase firing angle… _Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Atlanta raise her crossbow. _That thing really looks good on her; I should get her a spare one… _Archie thought, bizarrely.

"Oh, you think you guys can take me? Well, I missed my work out today. Go on, do your worst." The Goth shot back, cockily, her voice full of a sort of hollow bravado.

Atlanta groaned in frustration. "Whatever. This freak's going down." She fired her crossbow twice and rolled behind cover.

The girl didn't move. She just waved her hand casually, and muttered some odd words, sounding like a cross between a garbage crusher and one of Hermes' griffins trying to cough up a fur ball. "Trawsnewid i wyfynod bach"

The blasts of energy transmuted into pigeons, which broke off, wheeled around, deposited some fecal matter on Jay's face, who had just managed to get the last of the goo out of his eyes, and flapped off to join the rest of their species in frenzied flapping round Trafalgar Square.

"Great." He spat venomously. "The next person that drops crap on my face gets a Xiphos through the gut." With those words, he grabbed his sword off his belt, and unleashed the blade, bringing it into a high guard, as if preparing to stab the pigeons. Theresa laid a hand on his shoulder, running it along his bicep.

"Easy there, Tiger. Put the sword down. I don't think this girl means any real harm." She grinned mischievously. "And I've got to figure out how to pull that spell…" As a visible show of trust, she put away her nun chucks. _Of course, if Goth-Girl does turn out bad, my powers are a far better weapon against whatever mystic she's packing…and that excessive eye shadow._

"Good call." The Goth shot back. "I'm Merla, and we have to go. Follow me." With that, she turned, and sauntered off.

Archie looked quizzically at her, and then glanced at Jay. "Go ahead. We'll follow her, but watch her. This could be a trap."

"A Club? I thought this was some mystical rendezvous thing, not a drug deal!" Atlanta moaned, her temper foul. Being so utterly dismissed by Merla (if that was her real name) had really angered her, and she was spoiling for a fight.

"Can it, yank. We're here. Just go in the side entrance, say Merla sent you." She opened up the door, and waved them in. "And if you see a guy in green armour…" She shook her head. "Aw never mind, you'll figure it out."

They walked inside, and saw a guy in a dark green hoody with dark frayed denim jeans.

"So, you're the Canadians, eh? Wait...Theresa?" The boy dropped his bow, and it clattered to the floor. "Theresa, is that really you?" He rubbed his eyes comically, as if in disbelief.

"Sorry...have we met?" She asked, very confused, and more then a little bit disturbed. "How do you know my name?" She looked over at Jay and the other others for help.

"Terri, it's me. Robbie! It's been what, five, six years since we last saw each other. I think it was Lady Agatha's Garden Party, remember?" He crossed his arms, and waited for the tirade of memories to come flooding back. Theresa's reaction certainly didn't disappoint.

She gasped, her hands flying to her mouth, before blinking rapidly. "Robert? I didn't recognize you. Gods, I haven't seen you since we were...12 right?"

Robbie nodded. "'Bout that, yeah. That being the age when I managed to stop my parents dragging me to all those ghastly functions around the country hosted my Lady Snootydrawers or Lord CouldIBemorestuckup. 'Course, it did mean I had to stop seeing you, which was a bummer..."

Jay's eyes narrowed considerably, not liking this boy's rather...close attitude towards Theresa. "Wanna explain who this is Theresa?" He growled, resting his hand pointedly on the xiphos, then angling the hilt towards the boy, Robbie.

"Jay, Archie, Atlanta, this is Robbie. He was my, well that is to say, we were friends when we were little kids. We used to meet up at all the parties our rich families used to bring us to..."

"Brought you to. Dragged me to." Robbie interjected.

"Yes, so you never got tired of saying to anyone who would listen at those parties." Theresa shot him a look of amusement, like that of a couple enjoying an old private joke. Jay was surprised by the large spike of envy that look elicited. "Anyway, about six years ago, Robbie here managed to get out of the damn things, and I never saw him again."

"Of course, had I known that Theresa was going to grow up into such a beautiful charming girl, I might have reconsidered my attendance of those things. I hope you'll forgive my shortsightedness, my lady." He dropped to a knee, and kissed her hand softly, eliciting a blush from Theresa's cheeks.

Archie and Atlanta exchanged a glance before simultaneously placing a hand on each of his shoulders, preventing him from stepping in between the two, and getting in Robbie's face.

"Look, not that this isn't fascinating, but precisely why are you here? I mean, it seems a bit suspicious that out of all the people that could be here in some kind of enclave of what I'm guessing has a mystic origin, you, a former friend of one of us, would be here. I mean coincidences are a dangerous thing, and for someone who says a lot, you don't seem to have much to say." Jay's conspiracy generator was working overtime now, he was certain this boy was a risk, a danger to the team, and there it would be a cold day in Hades before he let this...this...person harm Theresa. Or the rest of the team, he thought, as a barely acknowledged afterthought.

"Okay, you want answers. Fine. That makes sense. You'll have to prove yourself though. You want to know precisely what's going on, go through that door. You will receive further instructions within." Robbie replied, grinning now. He was clearly enjoying this, and seemed only about two steps away from chanting "I know something you don't know" repeatedly in a high pitch.

"Why should I have to prove myself to you, "Robbie"? I've faced down Gods and monsters, what makes you think you have a right to demand I prove myself. You obviously know who we are, so who are you?"

"I'm Robbie." He lifted his bow, drew an arrow he obviously hidden in a secret quiver beneath his jacket and fired it in a lazy arc across the room. Then, he made a series of further shots, piercing the arrow three times in mid air, before splitting it down the middle. "That puts us on equal footing. at least for now. As for why I've got a right to know your worthiness? Well, this is my home country. Home court advantage has to count for something now, doesn't it?" He recrossed his arms defiantly, his voice had been level and calm, but his eyes certainly weren't, blazing at Jay, full of anger.

"Fine. I'll take, and pass, your little test. Then you'll explain what the hell happened to my vacation?" Jay asked.

"You ask, I'll answer. Can't guarantee you'll enjoy the answers, but I'll tell the truth."

Jay entered the room, and looked around. It was empty, the walls were blank, white, unassuming. All except for one thing. Another door at the opposite end of the room, and a man of at least 5"10 dressed in a full green armor.

"None Shall Pass!" The Knight decreed, drawing his Axe, a vicious double-headed affair from his belt.

Normally, Jay would have tried negotiation. But he was tired, angry, jealous, and he really wanted an explanation, so wordlessly, he unsheathed his Xiphos, and brought it up to a high guard.

"How do you English say? Bugger that!" With those words, he charged, slashing like a deranged madman. A deranged madman with the swordsmanship of a hero, albeit. His first slash rebounded off the hilt of the axe, leaving his side wide open for the Knight to slash at will, but the Knight didn't take the opportunity.

Allowing his bodies momentum to carry him forward, he span, and slashed through the arm of the knight, severing it between the gaps in his armor plating. It fell to the floor with a wet splash.

"Alright, back off and I won't hurt you any more." Jay said, sheathing his Xiphos.

"Any more? You haven't hurt me yet!" The Knight cried, indignantly.

"Your arms been cut off!"

"No it hasn't. It's just a flesh wound." The Knight lifted his Axe with his other Arm, before Jay slashed again, removing the arm.

The Knights only response was to begin kicking out with his right leg. It fell to the floor with a wet, sticky plop.

"Come on!" The Knight screamed. "You afraid, is that it?" As Jay went to walk past him.

"You've only got one leg!" Jay yelled back in exasperation. _What the hell is going on with this guy?_

He removed the final leg, and the Knight dropped to the floor. He looked up at Jay, then looked at his limbs, lying across the floor. "Alright. We'll call it a draw." Jay walked past the Knight, and through the door.

"Oh, running away are you? Oh, that's rich! Coward!" The Knight screamed, hysterically.

Through the door, sat the rest of his team, the Goth, Merla, and him. The cocky upstart was sitting entirely too close to Theresa for his liking.

"Alright. I passed your little test. Now please explain what the hell is going on?" Jay asked, frustrated.

"Right. Certainly. Absolutely. Merla, go put Owens arms on please?" Robbie asked, batting his eyes in a most ludicrous fashion.

"Fine. But you're doing it next time. You owe me for this!"

"Sure thing, doll. I'll explain thing to knuckles for brains here." He winked. "Just kidding, mate. You want answers, then sit down and use those lug holes on the sides of your head, capish?"

Jay said nothing, but sat down. His knuckles turned slightly white as his hands clenched.

"Alright, before we begin, there's a few facts I'm gonna lay on you, it'll be a lot easer if you just accept them, and let me get on with the story. Okay?" He waited for Jay to nod, sullenly. "Alright, Fact Number 1: You guys aren't the only descendants of heroes out there. Fact Number 2: Cronus is not the only big bad loser out there that escaped some prison using power harnessed from that planetary alignment. Fact Number 3: Yellow jumpers went out of style…hell, they were never in style. Seriously, what were you thinking?"

"If you're just here to insult my fashion sense, we'll be leaving." Jay growled.

"Speak for yourself, Jay. I wanna hear the story!" Atlanta laughed. "Now sit down and let the guy talk.

"Anyway, what you need to know, is that there are four of us in Britain, descendants of the greatest heroes these fair isles have offered history. You've met 3 of us so far, my dearest Merla is a descendant of the great Merlin, I myself am a descendant of Robin Hood. To be honest, that one wasn't a surprise, aristocracy bloodlines aren't exactly some big secret. I was just the first descendant of Robin to show any real resemblance to the dude."

Archie cut in. "You mentioned a third member? I don't remember meeting another."

"Well, you haven't, but your fearless leader has. Ah, here he comes now." Striding into the room purposefully was a broad shouldered boy of about 16, his green armor splattered with blood, and his hair tousled like he'd been wearing a helmet. This wasn't the first thing that struck the teens about his hair however. Their first impression, was that it was bright green

"Hey boyo, tha' sounds like it's my cue. I'm Owen." The boy said, extending a gauntleted hand to the group. Archie shook it, looking the boy deep in the eyes. There was something odd about him, Archie could feel it. And it wasn't just because of the Green hair. _Hell, mine's purple, who am I to judge?_

"Owen here is from Llanbobl, in Wales. He's a direct descendant of Owain, the green Knight."

Jay jumped from his seat. "But…I just chopped your legs off! And your arms!"

"Yeah, invulnerability's a bugger that way, isn't it? Still, I couldn't miss a chance to emulate John Cleese, now could I?" Seeing the look the group gave him, one of utter lack of comprehension, he added. "A comedy actor from the 70s." He extended a hand towards the group.

"A pleasure." Theresa said, drolly, taking the hand. "That's all well and good, but you've still not explained how you know about us, or how you knew we were in this country."

"That's easy hun," Merla replied. "We've a friend, goes by the name of Lady G, that's in touch with your mate Odie, they've been swapping data on each other for months. I'm a little surprised he didn't tell you about us, tell the truth."

As if on cue, Jay's phone started ringing. "Hello, Jay here. Odie, that you?"

"Yeah, it's me Jay. I just remembered, while you're in Britain, there's someone you might run into." The computer experts laid back voice sounded a little guilty; clearly this was something that Odie had forgotten to mention.

"Let me guess, a group of other hero descendants that you COMPLETELY FORGOT TO MENTION?" Jay half screamed down the comlink. "I mean, it didn't occur to you to mention ONCE that you were sharing team secrets with some girl you met over the internet?"

"S…sorry Jay…" Odie stammered.

"We'll discuss this when we get back Odie. Have a good vacation, cause once we're back, I'm recommending Ares gives you double training sessions for the next 3 months!" He slammed the comlink down. "Sorry about that little display. Anyway, fine, you've told us who you are. Now where are we, and why are we here?"

"Well, that's another story entirely. You guys might wanna sit back down."

**Well, that's it for another fantastically overdue chapter. I'm hoping you enjoyed it, and can forgive me for my terrible lack of updates. Reviews are loved, and really appreciated. **

**Thanks for reading.**


End file.
